Introduction

ownCloud fully supports the WebDAV protocol, and you can connect and
synchronize with your ownCloud files over WebDAV. In this chapter you
will learn how to connect Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, and mobile devices
to your ownCloud server via WebDAV. Before we get into configuring
WebDAV, let’s take a quick look at the recommended way of connecting
client devices to your ownCloud servers.

ownCloud Desktop and Mobile Clients

The recommended method for keeping your desktop PC synchronized with
your ownCloud server is by using the
ownCloud Desktop Client.
You can configure the ownCloud client to save files in any local
directory you want, and you choose which directories on the ownCloud
server to sync with. The client displays the current connection status
and logs all activity, so you always know which remote files have been
downloaded to your PC, and you can verify that files created and updated
on your local PC are properly synchronized with the server.

The recommended method for syncing your ownCloud server with Android and
Apple iOS devices is by using the
ownCloud mobile apps.

To connect to your ownCloud server with the ownCloud mobile apps, use
the base URL and folder only:

WebDAV Configuration

If you prefer, you may also connect your desktop PC to your ownCloud
server by using the WebDAV protocol rather than using a special client
application. Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) is a
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) extension that makes it easy to
create, read, and edit files on Web servers. With WebDAV you can access
your ownCloud shares on Linux, Mac OS X and Windows in the same way as
any remote network share, and stay synchronized.

In the following examples, You must adjust example.com/ to the URL of your ownCloud server installation.

Accessing Files Using Linux

You can access files in Linux operating systems using the following
methods.

Nautilus File Manager

Use the davs:// protocol to connect the Nautilus file manager to your
ownCloud share:

davs://example.com/owncloud/remote.php/webdav

If your server connection is not HTTPS-secured, use dav:// instead of davs://.

Accessing Files with KDE and Dolphin File Manager

To access your ownCloud files using the Dolphin file manager in KDE, use
the webdav:// protocol:

webdav://example.com/owncloud/remote.php/webdav

You can create a permanent link to your ownCloud server:

Open Dolphin and click Network in the left hand column.

Click on the icon labeled Add a Network Folder.
The resulting dialog should appear with WebDAV already selected.

If WebDAV is not selected, select it.

Click Next.

Enter the following settings:

Name: The name you want to see in the Places bookmark, for example ownCloud.

(Optional) Check the create icon checkbox for a bookmark to appear in the Places column.

(Optional) Provide any special settings or an SSL certificate in the Port & Encrypted checkbox.

Creating WebDAV Mounts on the Linux Command Line

You can create WebDAV mounts from the Linux command line. This is useful
if you prefer to access ownCloud the same way as any other remote
filesystem mount. The following example shows how to create a personal
mount and have it mounted automatically every time you log in to your
Linux computer.

Install the davfs2 WebDAV filesystem driver, which allows you to
mount WebDAV shares just like any other remote filesystem. Use this
command to install it on Debian/Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install davfs2

Use this command to install it on CentOS, Fedora, and openSUSE:

sudo yum install davfs2

Add yourself to the davfs2 group (this will be effective after the next login):

sudo usermod -aG davfs2 <username>

Then create an owncloud directory in your home directory for the
mountpoint, and .davfs2/ for your personal configuration file:

mkdir ~/owncloud
mkdir ~/.davfs2

Copy /etc/davfs2/secrets to ~/.davfs2:

sudo cat /etc/davfs2/secrets > ~/.davfs2/secrets

Make the permissions read-write owner only:

chmod 600 ~/.davfs2/secrets

Add your ownCloud login credentials to the end of the secrets
file, using your ownCloud server URL and your ownCloud username and
password:

Then test that it mounts and authenticates by running the following command.
If you set it up correctly you won’t need root permissions:

mount ~/owncloud

You should also be able to unmount it:

umount ~/owncloud

Now every time you login to your Linux system your ownCloud share should
automatically mount via WebDAV in your ~/owncloud directory. If you
prefer to mount it manually, change auto to noauto in /etc/fstab.

Known Issues

Problem: Resource Temporarily Unavailable

Solution

If you experience trouble when you create a file in the directory, edit
/etc/davfs2/davfs2.conf and add:

use_locks 0

Problem: Certificate Warnings

Solution

If you use a self-signed certificate, you will get a warning. To change
this, you need to configure davfs2 to recognize your certificate. Copy
mycertificate.pem to /etc/davfs2/certs/. Then edit
/etc/davfs2/davfs2.conf and uncomment the line servercert. Now add
the path of your certificate as in this example:

servercert /etc/davfs2/certs/mycertificate.pem

Accessing Files Using Mac OS X

The Mac OS X Finder suffers from a
series of implementation problems
and should only be used if the ownCloud server runs on Apache and mod_php.
You can use a tool like ocsmount to mount without those issues.

To access files through the Mac OS X Finder:

Choose GoConnect to Server.
The "Connect to Server" window opens.

Specify the address of the server in the Server Address field.

For example, the URL used to connect to the ownCloud server from the Mac OS X Finder is:

https://example.com/owncloud/remote.php/webdav

Click Connect.
The device connects to the server.

For added details about how to connect to an external server using Mac OS X, check the
wikihow documentation

Accessing Files Using Microsoft Windows

If you must use the native Windows implementation, you can map ownCloud
to a new drive. Mapping to a drive enables you to browse files stored on
an ownCloud server the way you would files stored in a mapped network drive.

Using this feature requires network connectivity. If you want to store
your files offline, use the ownCloud Desktop Client to sync all files on
your ownCloud to one or more directories of your local hard drive.

Prior to mapping your drive, you must permit the use of Basic Authentication in the
Windows Registry. The procedure is documented in
KB841215 and differs between
Windows XP/Server 2003 and Windows Vista/7. Please follow the Knowledge Base article before proceeding,
and follow the Vista instructions if you run Windows 7.

Mapping Drives With the Command Line

The following example shows how to map a drive using the command line.
To map the drive:

Open a command prompt in Windows.

Enter the following line in the command prompt to map to the computer Z drive,
where <drive_path> is the URL to your ownCloud server:

The computer maps the files of your ownCloud account to the drive letter Z.

Though not recommended, you can also mount the ownCloud server using HTTP, leaving the connection unencrypted.
If you plan to use HTTP connections on devices while in a public place, we strongly recommend using a
VPN tunnel to provide the necessary security.

Mapping Drives With Windows Explorer

Right-click on Computer entry and select Map network drive… from the drop-down menu.

Choose a local network drive to which you want to map ownCloud.

Specify the address to your ownCloud instance, followed by /remote.php/webdav.

For example:

https://example.com/owncloud/remote.php/webdav

For SSL protected servers, check Reconnect at logon to ensure that the mapping is persistent upon subsequent reboots. If you want to connect to the ownCloud server as a different user, check Connect using different credentials.

Accessing Files Using Cyberduck

Cyberduck is an open source FTP and SFTP,
WebDAV, and Amazon S3 browser designed for file transfers on Mac OS X and Windows.

This example uses Cyberduck version 4.2.1.

To use Cyberduck:

Specify a server without any leading protocol information. For example:

`example.com`

Specify the appropriate port. The port you choose depends on whether
or not your ownCloud server supports SSL. Cyberduck requires that you
select a different connection type if you plan to use SSL. For example:

80 (for WebDAV)
443 (for WebDAV (HTTPS/SSL))

Use the More Options drop-down menu to add the rest of your WebDAV
URL into the `Path' field. For example:

remote.php/webdav

Now Cyberduck enables file access to the ownCloud server.

Accessing public link shares over WebDAV

ownCloud provides the possibility to access public link shares over WebDAV.

To access the public link share, open:

https://example.com/owncloud/public.php/webdav

in a WebDAV client, use the share token as username and the (optional)
share password as password.

SettingsAdministrationSharingAllow users on this server
to send shares to other servers needs to be enabled in order to make this feature work.

Known Problems

Problem: Windows Does Not Connect Using HTTPS.

Solution 1

The Windows WebDAV Client might not support Server Name Indication (SNI)
on encrypted connections. If you encounter an error mounting an
SSL-encrypted ownCloud instance, contact your provider about assigning a
dedicated IP address for your SSL-based server.

Solution 2

The Windows WebDAV Client might not support TSLv1.1 / TSLv1.2
connections. If you have restricted your server config to only provide
TLSv1.1 and above the connection to your server might fail. Please refer to the
WinHTTP
documentation for further information.

Problem: The File Size Exceeds the Limit Allowed and Cannot be Saved

You receive the following error message:Error 0x800700DF: The file size exceeds the limit allowed and cannot be saved.

Solution

Windows limits the maximum size a file transferred from or to a WebDAV
share may have. You can increase the value FileSizeLimitInBytes in
HKEY_LOCAL_MacHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters
by clicking on Modify.

To increase the limit to the maximum value of 4GB, select Decimal, enter a value of
4294967295, and reboot Windows or restart the WebClient service.

Problem: Accessing your files from Microsoft Office via WebDAV fails

Solution

Known problems and their solutions are documented in the
KB2123563 article.

Problem: WebDAV Drive in Windows Using Self-Signed Certificate

Cannot map ownCloud as a WebDAV drive in Windows using self-signed certificate.

Solution

Go to the your ownCloud instance via your favorite Web browser.

Click through until you get to the certificate error in the browser status line.

View the cert, then from the Details tab, select Copy to File.

Save to the desktop with an arbitrary name, for example myOwnCloud.cer.

Start, Run, MMC.

FileAdd/Remove Snap-In.

Select CertificatesAddMy User AccountFinishOK.

Dig down to Trust Root Certification Authorities, Certificates.

Right-Click CertificateSelect All TasksImport.

Select Save Cert from the Desktop.

Select Place all Certificates in the following Store, click Browse,

Check the Box that says Show Physical Stores.
Expand out Trusted Root Certification Authorities.
select Local Computer, click OK to complete the Import.

Check the list to make sure it shows up.
You will probably need to Refresh before you see it.
Exit MMC.

Open Browser, select Tools, Delete Browsing History.

Select all but In Private Filtering Data, complete.

Go to Internet Options, Content Tab, Clear SSL State.

Close browser, then re-open and test.

Problem: Upload Large Files or Upload Takes Long

You cannot download more than 50 MB or upload large Files when the
upload takes longer than 30 minutes using Web Client in Windows 7.